188 
WILD NORWAY. 
to some great ocean, storm-tossed and turbulent, 
suddenly arrested—petrified in all the grandeur of 
its wildest mood. High ridges, as those of Halling- 
skarver and a hundred more, cloud-flecked and snow¬ 
capped, resemble broken foam-crested billows ; while 
between opposing rollers shoot up single waves—angry 
pyramids, as the cone-like peak of Haartieg. Between 
are valleys, great and small ; gorges, ravines, and rolling 
fjeld ; mostly rock, but diversified with tawny downs, 
with glaciers and the glint of water—lake, river, and 
foss. In summer, a few hardy squatters push out 
advance-sseters and graze sheep and goats on the 
pasturage of moor and corrie ; but autumn soon drives 
these to lower levels. Then the Vidden are left to 
the reindeer, the ptarmigan, and the hunter. 
To the Hardanger Vidden we have twice organized 
sporting expeditions. On the first occasion good weather 
prevailed and sport resulted ; but I do not here propose 
going into merely sporting details, the system and 
practice of reindeer-stalking being already touched upon 
in a former chapter. The second venture was in another 
district, in the southern Vidden. The summer had been 
wet, but in mid-August a break in the monotony of 
rain-charged skies welcomed the opening days. It was 
but transient. The first week had yielded three deer, 
and prospects looked bright enough when, on August 
21st, we pitched our second camp on Hellevas-fjeld—a 
day-and-a-halfs journey from anywhere. But Dieu 
dispose . The next fortnight brought in a spell of the 
very worst and wildest weather I have ever experienced, 
and the like of which I earnestly hope I may not see 
again. Words must fail fully to describe that series of 
